“It is unfortunate that the LECC did not approach the ABC before making its claims,so we could explain they were demonstrably false. The findings have been made less than a month after the ABC published its report about Mr Fuller.
“The ABC calls on the LECC to detail the steps it took – including who it interviewed — in order to gather evidence and draw its conclusions.”
The LECC report said there was “considerable disharmony” and “approximately five years of serious unrest” in the upper echelons of NSW Police when Mr Fuller became commissioner in 2017,and he set about trying to reform this.
“In doing that,he no doubt created hostility amongst people who thought they should be promoted in preference to others and also in people who felt they should leave the NSW Police Force,” LECC said.
“It would appear that it is probably one or more of these disaffected officers who have mounted a campaign to harm the reputation of Mr Fuller as the Police Commissioner.
“[Mr Fuller’s] bid to join the Board of Racing NSW failed because of these allegations being raised. It raises a distinct possibility that these allegations were raised for that very purpose.”
An ABC spokesperson said the investigation began in September 2021 and Mr Fuller’s potential position was only revealed the day before it was published.
LECC found Mr Fuller had no role in awarding the catering contract,which was first awarded after a tender in 2012.
It said the asbestos prosecution regarding one of the racing co-owners was abandoned,and it was “worrying” that the fraud investigation into the other had been raised.
“Self-evidently,[the man] was never charged because there was no evidence to prove he had committed any offence,” LECC said. “It lends credibility to the explanation that someone is prepared to throw whatever mud they can,in the hope something sticks.”
The commission said Mr Fuller had disclosed his part-ownership of a horse to then-police minister David Elliott in 2019 and could not recall if he had made an annual declaration of this potential conflict as he was required to. He accepted he may not have.
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If this was not done,LECC said,the ownership was still known to Mr Elliott and LECC.
“There is clearly no substance in any of the allegations that have been made against Mr Fuller,” LECC said.
“At the end of the day,Mr Fuller has served 34 years of loyal service with the NSW Police Force and he has been responsible for significant reforms in the police force which have had the effect of increasing its efficiency and enhancing its reputation.”
The commission also examined the role of Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker in awarding the catering contract,given her husband had worked at a chicken shop which was owned by the same person who operated the catering company.
LECC found the catering contract was awarded by a joint panel from the NSW Police Force and NSW Fire and Rescue and there is no evidence Assistant Commissioner McCusker was involved in any way.
“There is,in short,no reason at all to doubt Assistant Commissioner McCusker’s ability or her integrity,” LECC said.
A NSW Police spokesperson said the agency noted the findings made by LECC.
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